Restricted group content collection

ABSTRACT

A messaging server system receives a message creation input from a first client device that is associated with a first user registered with the messaging server system. The messaging server system determines, based on an entity graph representing connections between a plurality of users registered with the messaging server system, that the first user is within a threshold degree of connection with a second that initiated a group story in relation to a specified event. The messaging server system determines, based on location data received from the first client device, that the first client device was located within a geo-fence surrounding a geographic location of the specified event during a predetermined event window, the geo-fence and event window having been designated by the second user, and causes the first client device to present a user interface element, that enables the first user to submit content to the group story.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of priorityof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/110,913, filed on Dec. 3, 2020,which is a continuation of and claims the benefit of priority of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 16/689,606, filed on Nov. 20, 2019, which isa continuation of and claims the benefit of priority of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/454,784, filed on Mar. 9, 2017, each of whichare incorporated. herein by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

Current technology allows users to easily capture and share content. Forexample, mobile devices, such as smart phones, are often equipped withcameras that enable users to capture images and/or videos. Users canshare the captured images and/or videos with other users via directmessaging, posting to a social networking service, etc While generatingand sharing content may be easier, organizing and managing access to thecontent remains problematic. Accordingly, improvements are needed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

To easily identify the discussion of any particular element or act, themost significant digit or digits in a reference number refer to thefigure number in which that element is first introduced.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network.

FIG. 2 is block diagram illustrating further details regarding amessaging system, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating data which may be stored inthe database of the messaging server system, according to certainexample embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a message,according to some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example access-limitingprocess, in terms of which access to content (e.g., an ephemeralmessage, and associated multimedia payload of data) or a contentcollection (e.g., an ephemeral message story) may be time-limited (e.g.,made ephemeral).

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating various modules of the collectionmanagement system, according to certain example embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method for initiating a groupstory, according to certain example embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for determining that a useris authorized to contribute to a group story, according to certainexample embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method for adding content to agroup story, according to certain example embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method for determining that a useris authorized to contribute to a group story, according to certainexample embodiments.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method for deleting a group story,according to certain example embodiments.

FIGS. 12A-12F are screenshots showing example interfaces for creating agroup story.

FIGS. 13A & 13B are screenshots showing example interfaces forsubmitting content for inclusion in a group story.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating a representative softwarearchitecture, which may be used in conjunction with various hardwarearchitectures herein described.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine,according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from amachine-readable medium (e.g., a machine-readable storage medium) andperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Description

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever. The forming notice applies to the software and dataas described below and in the drawings that form a part of thisdocument: Copyright 2017, SNAP INC., All Rights Reserved.

The description that follows includes systems, methods, techniques,instruction sequences, and computing machine program products thatembody illustrative embodiments of the disclosure. In the followingdescription, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific detailsare set forth in order to provide an understanding of variousembodiments of the inventive subject matter. It will be evident,however, to those skilled in the art, that embodiments of the inventivesubject matter may be practiced without these specific details. Ingeneral, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, andtechniques are not necessarily shown in detail.

Embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods forrestricted, or conditional, group content collection. A user of thissystem may initiate a restricted group content collection known as agroup story that allows authorized users to contribute and view contentsubmitted to the group story.

A group story is a collection of content from multiple authorized usersthat is created manually, automatically or using a combination of manualand automatic techniques. For example, a group story may constitute acurated stream of user-submitted content from various locations andevents. Content includes any variety of content, such as images, text,video, etc. Further, the content may include ephemeral content thatexpires after a predetermined time period. The group story is accessibleby one or more authorized users that are enabled to access and view thecontent included in the group story.

A collection management system allows a user to initiate a group storyaccording to a set of group story parameters selected by the user orcurator. The group story parameters include parameters describing thegroup story, such as a group story name, associated event, event window,etc., as well as conditions defining access to the group story, such asusers authorized to contribute to the group story, users authorized toview the group story, conditions for contributing or viewing a groupstory, etc.

The user selects authorized users individually and/or based on a degreeof connection to the user in an entity graph (e.g., friends, friends offriends, etc.). The user can select conditions based on geographiclocation. For example, the user can define a geo-fence surrounding ageographic location of the event associated with the group story. Inthis example, an authorized user can contribute to a group story and/orview content included in the group story based on the authorized userbeing location within or near the geo-fence at a current time and/or ata previous time.

The collection management system initiates the group story based on theprovided group story conditions. For example, the collection managementsystem gathers data to determine whether a user is authorized tocontribute and/or view a group story. The collection management systemfurther determines whether content submitted for inclusion in the groupstory is eligible for inclusion in the group story. This can includedetermining whether user defined conditions have been satisfied (e.g.,location based conditions, time based conditions, etc.), as wellproviding the content for approval to the user that initiated the groupstory.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system 100 forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network.The messaging system 100 includes multiple client devices 102, each ofwhich hosts a number of applications including a messaging clientapplication 104. Each messaging client application 104 iscommunicatively coupled to other instances of the messaging clientapplication 104 and a messaging server system 108 via a network 106(e.g., the Internet).

Accordingly, each messaging client application 104 is able tocommunicate and exchange data with another messaging client application104 and with the messaging server system 108 via the network 106. Thedata exchanged between messaging client applications 104, and between amessaging client application 104 and the messaging server system 108,includes functions (e.g., commands to invoke functions) as well aspayload data (e.g., text, audio, video or other multimedia data).

The messaging server system 108 provides server-side functionality viathe network 106 to a particular messaging client application 104. Whilecertain functions of the messaging system 100 are described herein asbeing performed by either a messaging client application 104 or by themessaging server system 108, it will be appreciated that the location ofcertain functionality either within the messaging client application 104or the messaging server system 108 is a design choice. For example, itmay be technically preferable to initially deploy certain technology andfunctionality within the messaging server system 108, but to latermigrate this technology and functionality to the messaging clientapplication 104 where a client device 102 has a sufficient processingcapacity.

The messaging server system 108 supports various services and operationsthat are provided to the messaging client application 104. Suchoperations include transmitting data to, receiving data from, andprocessing data generated by the messaging client application 104. Thisdata may include, message content, client device information,geolocation information, media annotation and overlays, message contentpersistence conditions, social network information, and live eventinformation, as examples. Data exchanges within the messaging system 100are invoked and controlled through functions available via userinterfaces (UIs) of the messaging client application 104.

Turning now specifically to the messaging server system 108, anApplication Program Interface (API) server 110 is coupled to, andprovides a programmatic interface to, an application server 112. Theapplication server 112 is communicatively coupled to a database server118, which facilitates access to a database 120 in which is stored dataassociated with messages processed by the application server 112.

Dealing specifically with the Application Program Interface (API) server110, this server receives and transmits message data (e.g., commands andmessage payloads) between the client device 102 and the applicationserver 112. Specifically, the Application Program Interface (API) server110 provides a set of interfaces (e.g., routines and protocols) that canbe called or queried by the messaging client application 104 in order toinvoke functionality of the application server 112. The ApplicationProgram Interface (API) server 110 exposes various functions supportedby the application server 112, including account registration, loginfunctionality, the sending of messages, via the application server 112,from a particular messaging client application 104 to another messagingclient application 104, the sending of media files (e.g., images orvideo) from a messaging client application 104 to the messaging serverapplication 114, and for possible access by another messaging clientapplication 104, the setting of a collection of media data (e.g., Story,Group Story), the retrieval of a list of connections (e.g., friends,follower, etc.) of a user of a client device 102, the retrieval of suchcollections, the retrieval of messages and content, the adding anddeletion of connections to the entity graph, the location of connectionswithin the entity graph, opening and application event (e.g., relatingto the messaging client application 104).

The application server 112 hosts a number of applications andsubsystems, including a messaging server application 114, an imageprocessing system 116 and a social network system 122. The messagingserver application 114 implements a number of message processingtechnologies and functions, particularly related to the aggregation andother processing of content (e.g., textual and multimedia content)included in messages received from multiple instances of the messagingclient application 104. As will be described in further detail, the textand media content from multiple sources may be aggregated intocollections of content (e.g., called stories, group stories orgalleries). These collections are then made available, by the messagingserver application 114, to the messaging client application 104. Otherprocessor and memory intensive processing of data may also be performedserver-side by the messaging server application 114, in view of thehardware requirements for such processing.

The application server 112 also includes an image processing system 116that is dedicated to performing various image processing operations,typically with respect to images or video received within the payload ofa message at the messaging server application 114.

The social network system 122 supports various social networkingfunctions and services, and makes these functions and services availableto the messaging server application 114. To this end, the social networksystem 122 maintains and accesses an entity graph 304 within thedatabase 120. Examples of functions and services supported by the socialnetwork system 122 include the identification of connections betweenusers registered with the messaging system 100. A user or entityregisters with the messaging system 100 by creating an account with themessaging system 100. Once a user or entity has registered with themessaging system 100, the user or entity is added to the entity graphand may begin establishing connections with other user and/or entitiesthat are registered with the messaging system 100.

A connection between users indicates a relationship between the users.An example relationship is one user “following” the other user to viewcontent and/or messages posted by the user. Another example relationshipis two users become “friends,” thereby allowing the users to viewcontent and/or messages posted by the other user. Another examplefunction and service supported by the social network system 122 is theidentification of other entities and interests of a particular user.

The application server 112 is communicatively coupled to a databaseserver 118, which facilitates access to a database 120 in which isstored data associated with messages processed by the messaging serverapplication 114.

FIG. 2 is block diagram illustrating further details regarding themessaging system 100. Specifically, the messaging system 100 is shown tocomprise the messaging client application 104 and the application server112, which in turn embody a number of some subsystems, namely anephemeral timer system 202, a collection management system 204 and anannotation system 206.

The ephemeral timer system 202 is responsible for enforcing thetemporary access to content permitted by the messaging clientapplication 104 and the messaging server application 114. To this end,the ephemeral timer system 202 incorporates a number of timers that,based on duration and display parameters associated with a message, orcollection of messages (e.g., a SNAPCHAT Story), selectively display andenable access to messages and associated content via the messagingclient application 104. Further details regarding the operation of theephemeral timer system 202 are provided below.

The collection management system 204 is responsible for managingcollections of media (e.g., collections of text, image video, and audiodata). In some examples, a collection of content (e.g., messages,including images, video, text, and audio) may be organized into an“event gallery,” “event story,” or “event group story.” Such acollection may be made available for a specified time period (i.e.,event window), such as the duration of a specified event to which thecontent relates. For example, content relating to a specified event suchas a music concert may be made available as a “Story” for the durationof that music concert. The collection management system 204 may also beresponsible for publishing a user interface element (e.g., icon, button,etc) that provides notification of the existence of a particularcollection to the user interface of the messaging client application104.

A collection may also constitute a “Group Story,” which is a collectionof content from multiple authorized users that is created manually,automatically or using a combination of manual and automatic techniques.For example, a “Group Story” may constitute a curated stream ofuser-submitted content from varies locations and events. Users, whoseclient devices have location services enabled and are at a commonlocation event at a particular time may, for example, be presented withan option, via a user interface of the messaging client application 104,to contribute content to a particular group story. The group story maybe identified to the user by the messaging client application 104, basedon his or her location as well as the user meeting other specified groupeligibility criteria. The end result is a “Group Story” told from acommunity perspective.

Group stories associated with an event and/or a specific geographiclocation (e.g., at a wedding,) may include a condition that anauthorized user be within a specified distance of the event (e.g.,geographic location of the event) to contribute to and/or view contentincluded in the group story. In some embodiments, a user's ability tocontribute and/or view a group story may be dependent on that user beingconnected to a user that initiated the group story. For instance, a usermay be required to be within a threshold degree of connection (e.g.,friend of a friend).

The collection management system 204 furthermore includes a curationinterface 208 that allows a collection manager to manage and curate aparticular collection of content. For example, the curation interface208 enables an event organizer to curate a collection of contentrelating to a specific event (e.g., delete inappropriate content orredundant messages). Additionally, the collection management system 204employs machine vision (or image recognition technology) and contentrules to automatically curate a content collection. In certainembodiments, compensation may be paid to a user for inclusion of usergenerated content into a collection. In such cases, the curationinterface 208 operates to automatically make payments to such users forthe use of their content.

The collection management system 204 enables users registered withmessaging system 100 to initiate a group story. For instance, thecuration interface 208 enables a user to initiate a group story, as wellas select group story parameters. Group story parameters includeparameters dictating performance of the group story. Examples of groupstory parameters include a specified event associated with the groupstory, an event window during which the event takes place, which usersare authorized to post and/or view content included in the group story,whether content needs approval from an administrator, times whenauthorized users may post and/or view the group story, when a groupstory should be deleted, etc. The collection management system 204creates and manages a group story based on the group story parametersreceived from the user. The collection management system 204 isdiscussed in greater detail below in the discussion of FIG. 6.

The annotation system 206 provides various functions that enable a userto annotate or otherwise modify or edit media content associated with amessage. For example, the annotation system 206 provides functionsrelated to the generation and publishing of media overlays for messagesprocessed by the messaging system 100. The annotation system 206operatively supplies a media overlay (e.g., a SNAPCHAT filter) to themessaging client application 104 based on a geolocation of the clientdevice 102. In another example, the annotation system 206 operativelysupplies a media overlay to the messaging client application 104 basedon other information, such as, social network information of the user ofthe client device 102. A media overlay may include audio and visualcontent and visual effects. Examples of audio and visual content includepictures, texts, logos, animations, and sound effects. An example of avisual effect includes color overlaying. The audio and visual content orthe visual effects can be applied to a media content item (e.g., aphoto) at the client device 102. For example, the media overlayincluding text that can be overlaid on top of a photograph generatedtaken by the client device 102. In another example, the media overlayincludes an identification of a location overlay (e.g., Venice beach), aname of a live event, or a name of a merchant overlay (e.g., BeachCoffee House). In another example, the annotation system 206 uses thegeolocation of the client device 102 to identify a media overlay thatincludes the name of a merchant at the geolocation of the client device102. The media overlay may include other indicia associated with themerchant. The media overlays may be stored in the database 120 andaccessed through the database server 118.

In one example embodiment, the annotation system 206 provides auser-based publication platform that enables users to select ageolocation on a map, and upload content associated with the selectedgeolocation. The user may also specify circumstances under which aparticular media overlay should be offered to other users. Theannotation system 206 generates a media overlay that includes theuploaded content and associates the uploaded content with the selectedgeolocation.

In another example embodiment, the annotation system 206 provides amerchant-based publication platform that enables merchants to select aparticular media overlay associated with a geolocation via a biddingprocess. For example, the annotation system 206 associates the mediaoverlay of a highest bidding merchant with a corresponding geolocationfor a predefined amount of time

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram 300 illustrating data 300 which may bestored in the database 120 of the messaging server system 108. While thecontent of the database 120 is shown to comprise a number of tables, itwill be appreciated that the data could be stored in other types of datastructures (e.g., as an object-oriented database).

The database 120 includes message data stored within a message table314. The entity table 302 stores entity data, including an entity graph304. Entities for which records are maintained within the entity table302 may include registered users, corporate entities, organizations,objects, places, events etc. Regardless of type, any entity regardingwhich the messaging server system 108 stores data may be a recognizedentity. Each entity is provided with a unique identifier, as well as anentity type identifier (not shown).

The entity graph 304 furthermore stores information regardingconnections between the entities. A connection between entitiesindicates a relationship between the user accounts of entities withrelation to the messaging system. An example relationship is one entity“following” the other entity to view content and/or messages posted bythe entity. Another example relationship is two entities becoming“friends,” thereby allowing the entitites to view content and/ormessages posted by the other entity. The entity graph 304 also includesother relationships and associations between entities. Suchrelationships may be social, professional (e.g., work at a commoncorporation or organization) interested-based or activity-based, merelyfor example.

The database 120 also stores annotation data, in the example form offilters, in an annotation table 312. Filters for which data is storedwithin the annotation table 312 are associated with and applied tovideos (for which data is stored in a video table 310) and/or images(for which data is stored in an image table 308). Filters, in oneexample, are overlays that are displayed as overlaid on an image orvideo during presentation to a recipient user. Filters may be of variestypes, including a user-selected filters from a gallery of filterspresented to a sending user by the messaging client application 104 whenthe sending user is composing a message. Other types of filers includegeolocation filters (also known as (3eofiiters) which may be presentedto a sending user based on geographic location. For example, geolocationfilters specific to a neighborhood or special location may be presentedwithin a. user interface by the messaging client application 104, basedon geolocation information determined by a GPS unit of the client device102. Another type of filer is a data filer, which may be selectivelypresented to a sending user by the messaging client application 104,based on other inputs or information gathered by the client device 102during the message creation process. Example of data filters includecurrent temperature at a specific location, a current speed at which asending user is traveling, battery life for a client device 102, or thecurrent time.

Other annotation data that may be stored within the image table 308 isso-called “Lens” data. A “Lens” may be a real-time special effect andsound that may be added to an image or a video.

As mentioned above, the video table 310 stores video data which, in oneembodiment, is associated with messages for which records are maintainedwithin the message table 314. Similarly, the image table 308 storesimage data associated with messages for which message data is stored inthe entity table 302. The entity table 302 may associate variousannotations from the annotation table 312 with various images and videosstored in the image table 308 and the video table 310.

A story table 306 stores data regarding collections of messages andassociated image, video or audio data, which are compiled into acollection (e.g., a SNAPCHAT Story or a gallery). The creation of aparticular collection (e.g., group story) may be initiated by aparticular user (e.g., each user for which a record is maintained in theentity table 302). A user may create a “Group Story” in the form of acollection of content that has been created and sent/broadcast by thatuser and other authorized users. To this end, the user interface of themessaging client application 104 may include an icon that is userselectable to enable a sending user to add specific content to a groupstory to which the user is authorized to post.

The story table 306 includes data associated with a created group story,such as images, messages, video data, audio data, etc. that are includedin the group story, a title designated to the group story, a uniqueidentifier for the group story, story parameters, etc. Examples of groupparameter data included in the story table 306 includes a user thatinitiated the group story, users authorized to post and/or view content,an event associated with the group story, geographic locationsassociated with the group story, etc.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a message. Themessage is generated by a messaging client application 104 forcommunication to a further messaging client application 104 or themessaging server application 114. The content of a particular message400 is used to populate the message table 314 stored within the database120, accessible by the messaging server application 114. Similarly, thecontent of a message 400 is stored in memory as “in-transit” or“in-flight” data of the client device 102 or the application server 112.The message 400 is shown to include the following components:

-   -   A message identifier 402: a unique identifier that identifies        the message 400.    -   A message text payload 404: text, to be generated by a user via        a user interface of the client device 102 and that is included        in the message 400.    -   A message image payload 406: image data, captured by a camera        component of a client device 102 or retrieved from memory of a        client device 102, and that is included in the message 400.    -   A message video payload 408: video data, captured by a camera        component or retrieved from a memory component of the client        device 102 and that is included in the message 400.    -   A message audio payload 410: audio data, captured by a        microphone or retrieved from the memory component of the client        device 102, and that is included in the message 400.    -   A message annotations 412: annotation data (e.g., filters,        stickers or other enhancements) that represents annotations to        be applied to message image payload 406, message video payload        408, or message audio payload 410 of the message 400.    -   A message duration parameter 414: parameter value indicating, in        seconds, the amount of time for which content of the message        (e.g., the message image payload 406, message video payload 408,        message audio payload 410) is to be presented or made accessible        to a user via the messaging client application 104.    -   A message geolocation parameter 416: geolocation data (e.g.,        latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates) associated with the        content payload of the message. Multiple message geolocation        parameter 416 values may be included in the payload, each of        these parameter values being associated with respect to content        items included in the content (e.g., a specific image into        within the message image payload 406, or a specific video in the        message video payload 408).    -   A message story identifier 418: identifier values identifying        one or more content collections (e.g., stories, group stories,        etc.) with which a particular content item in the message image        payload 406 of the message 400 is associated. For example,        multiple images within the message image payload 406 may each be        associated with multiple content collections using identifier        values.    -   A message tag 420: each message 400 may be tagged with multiple        tags, each of which is indicative of the subject matter of        content included in the message payload. For example, where a        particular image included in the message image payload 406        depicts an animal (e.g., a lion), a tag value may be included        within the message tag 420 that is indicative of the relevant        animal. Tag values may be generated manually, based on user        input, or may be automatically generated using, for example,        image recognition.    -   A message sender identifier 422: an identifier (e.g., a        messaging system identifier, email address or device identifier)        indicative of a user of the client device 102 on which the        message 400 was generated and from which the message 400 was        sent    -   A message receiver identifier 424: an identifier (e.g., a        messaging system identifier, email address or device identifier)        indicative of a user of the client device 102 to which the        message 400 is addressed.

The contents (e.g. values) of the various components of message 400 maybe pointers to locations in tables within which content data values arestored. For example, an image value in the message image payload 406 maybe a pointer to (or address of) a location within an image table 308.Similarly, values within the message video payload 408 may point to datastored within a video table 310, values stored within the messageannotations 412 may point to data stored in an annotation table 312,values stored within the message story identifier 418 may point to datastored in a story table 306, and values stored within the message senderidentifier 422 and the message receiver identifier 424 may point to userrecords stored within an entity table 302.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an access-limiting process500, in terms of which access to content (e.g., an ephemeral message502, and associated multimedia payload of data) or a content collection(e.g., an ephemeral message story 504) may be time-limited (e.g., madeephemeral).

An ephemeral message 502 is shown to be associated with a messageduration parameter 506, the value of which determines an amount of timethat the ephemeral message 502 will be displayed to a receiving user ofthe ephemeral message 502 by the messaging client application 104. Inone embodiment, where the messaging client application 104 is a SNAPCHATapplication client, an ephemeral message 502 is viewable by a receivinguser for up to a maximum of 10 seconds, depending on the amount of timethat the sending user specifies using the message duration parameter506.

The message duration parameter 506 and the message receiver identifier424 are shown to be inputs to a message timer 512., which is responsiblefor determining the amount of time that the ephemeral message 502 isshown to a particular receiving user identified by the message receiveridentifier 424. In particular, the ephemeral message 502 will only beshown to the relevant receiving user for a time period determined by thevalue of the message duration parameter 506. The message timer 512 isshown to provide output to a more generalized ephemeral tinier system202, which is responsible for the overall timing of display of content(e.g., an ephemeral message 502) to a receiving user.

The ephemeral message 502 is shown in FIG. 5 to be included within anephemeral message story 504 (e.g., a personal SNAPCI-IAT Story, an eventstory, group story, etc.). The ephemeral message story 504 has anassociated story duration parameter 508, a value of which determines atime-duration for which the ephemeral message story 504 is presented andaccessible to users of the messaging system 100. The story durationparameter 508, for example, may be the duration of a music concert,where the ephemeral message story 504 is a collection of contentpertaining to that concert. Alternatively, a user (either the owninguser or a curator user) may specify the value for the story durationparameter 508 when performing the setup and creation of the ephemeralmessage story 504.

Additionally, each ephemeral message 502 within the ephemeral messagestory 504 has an associated story participation parameter 510, a valueof which determines the duration of time for which the ephemeral message502 will be accessible within the context of the ephemeral message story504. Accordingly, a particular ephemeral message story 504 may “expire”and become inaccessible within the context of the ephemeral messagestory 504, prior to the ephemeral message story 504 itself expiring interms of the story duration parameter 508. The story duration parameter508, story participation parameter 510, and message receiver identifier424 each provide input to a story timer 514, which operationallydetermines, firstly, whether a particular ephemeral message 502 of theephemeral message story 504 will be displayed to a particular receivinguser and, if so, for how long. Note that the ephemeral message story 504is also aware of the identity of the particular receiving user as aresult of the message receiver identifier 424.

Accordingly, the story timer 514 operationally controls the overalllifespan of an associated ephemeral message story 504, as well as anindividual ephemeral message 502 included in the ephemeral message story504. In one embodiment, each and every ephemeral message 502 within theephemeral message story 504 remains viewable and accessible for atime-period specified by the story duration parameter 508. In a furtherembodiment, a certain ephemeral message 502 may expire, within thecontext of ephemeral message story 504, based on a story participationparameter 510. Note that a message duration parameter 506 may stilldetermine the duration of time for which a particular ephemeral message502 is displayed to a receiving user, even within the context of theephemeral message story 504. Accordingly, the message duration parameter506 determines the duration of time that a particular ephemeral message502 is displayed to a receiving user, regardless of whether thereceiving user is viewing that ephemeral message 502 inside or outsidethe context of an ephemeral message story 504.

The ephemeral timer system 202 may furthermore operationally remove aparticular ephemeral message 502 from the ephemeral message story 504based on a determination that it has exceeded an associated storyparticipation parameter 510. For example, when a sending user hasestablished a story participation parameter 510 of 24 hours fromposting, the ephemeral timer system 202 will remove the relevantephemeral message 502 from the ephemeral message story 504 after thespecified 24 hours. The ephemeral timer system 202 also operates toremove an ephemeral message story 504 either when the storyparticipation parameter 510 for each and every ephemeral message 502within the ephemeral message story 504 has expired, or when theephemeral message story 504 itself has expired in terms of the storyduration parameter 508.

In certain use cases, a creator of a particular ephemeral message story504 may specify an indefinite story duration parameter 508. In thiscase, the expiration of the story participation parameter 510 for thelast remaining ephemeral message 502 within the ephemeral message story504 will determine when the ephemeral message story 504 itself expires.In this case, a new ephemeral message 502, added to the ephemeralmessage story 504, with a new story participation parameter 510,effectively extends the life of an ephemeral message story 504 to equalthe value of the story participation parameter 510.

Responsive to the ephemeral timer system 202 determining that anephemeral message story 504 has expired (e.g., is no longer accessible),the ephemeral timer system 202. communicates with the messaging system100 (and, for example, specifically the messaging client application 104to cause an indicium (e.g., an icon) associated with the relevantephemeral message story 504 to no longer be displayed within a userinterface of the messaging client application 104. Similarly, when theephemeral timer system 202 determines that the message durationparameter 506 for a particular ephemeral message 502 has expired, theephemeral timer system 202 causes the messaging client application 104to no longer display an indicium (e.g., an icon or textualidentification) associated with the ephemeral message 502.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating various modules of the collectionmanagement system 204, according to certain example embodiments. Thecollection management system 204 is shown as including an interfacemodule 602, a group story creation module 604, an eligibilitydetermination module 606, a curation module 608, and a deletion module610. The various modules of the collection management system 204 areconfigured to communicate with each other (e.g., via a bus, sharedmemory, or a switch). Any one or more of these modules may beimplemented using one or more computer processors (e.g., by configuringsuch one or more computer processors to perform functions described forthat module) and hence may include one or more of the computerprocessors.

Any one or more of the modules described may be implemented usinghardware alone (e.g., one or more of the computer processors of amachine) or a combination of hardware and software. For example, anydescribed module of the collection management system 204 may physicallyinclude an arrangement of one or more of the computer processors (e.g.,a subset of or among the one or more computer processors of the machine)configured to perform the operations described herein for that module.As another example, any module of the collection management system 204may include software, hardware, or both, that configure an arrangementof one or more computer processors (e,g,, among the one or more computerprocessors of the machine) to perform the operations described hereinfor that module. Accordingly, different modules of the collectionmanagement system 204 may include and configure different arrangementsof such computer processors or a single arrangement of such computerprocessors at different points in time. Moreover, any two or moremodules of the collection management system 204 may be combined into asingle module, and the functions described herein for a single modulemay be subdivided among multiple modules. Furthermore, according tovarious example embodiments, modules described herein as beingimplemented within a single machine, database, or device may bedistributed across multiple machines, databases, or devices.

To avoid obscuring the inventive subject matter with unnecessary detail,various functional components (e.g., modules) that are not germane toconveying an understanding of the inventive subject matter have beenomitted from FIG. 6. However, it will be appreciated that variousadditional functional components may be supported by collectionmanagement system 204 to facilitate additional functionality that is notspecifically described herein. Furthermore, the various functionalmodules depicted in FIG. 6 may reside on a single computing device ormay be distributed across several computing devices in variousarrangements such as those used in cloud-based architectures.

The interface module 602 provides a user with a user interface thatenables a user to initiate and otherwise interact (e.g., post content,view content, etc.) with a group story. For instance, the interfacemodule 606 provides user interface elements buttons, check boxes, textfields, etc.) that a user uses to perform desired functions withrelation to a group story. A user can utilize the provided userinterface elements to create a group story, select group storyparameters, submit content to a group story, etc. The interface module602 also presents a user with content included in a group story, such asimages, video, messages, etc.

Group story parameters include any type of parameter defining ordescribing a group story and/or performance of the group story. Forexample, group story parameters include a group name defined by a useras well as a specified event and/or geographic location associated withthe group story (e.g., wedding, concert, graduation, etc.). Theinterface module 602 enables users to enter a group story name as wellas select a specified event and/or designate a geographic locationassociated with the specified event.

Group story parameters further include data identifying users that areauthorized to contribute to a group story. Contributing to a group storyincludes submitting content to be included in the group story, such asimages, video, messages, etc. The interface module 602 enables the userto select individual users that are authorized to contribute to a groupstory. A user may enter data identifying a user (e.g., user's name,username, etc.) and designate the user as authorized to contribute tothe group story.

As another example, the interface module 602 enables a user to selectparameters defining a group of users that are authorized to contributeto a group story. For instance, a user can select to authorize usersthat are directly connected to the user in the entity graph 304 orwithin a threshold degree of connection with the user in the entitygraph 304. A degree of connection indicates a degree of separationbetween two users in the entity graph 304. For instance, a single degreeof connection would indicate that two users are directly connected inthe entity graph 304, such as when two users are friends and/or one useris following the other user. A second degree of connection wouldindicate that two users are not directly connected (e.g., friends),however are connected by at least one common direct connection (e.g.,the two users share at least one common friend).

The interface module 602 enables the user to select a threshold degreeof connection to authorize users within the threshold degree ofconnection from the user to contribute to the group story. For example,to authorize users that are directly connected to the user (e.g., theuser's friends and/or followers), a user can select a single degree ofconnection as the threshold degree of connection. As another example, auser can select two degrees of connection as the threshold degree ofconnection to authorize the user's direct connections (e.g., the user'sfriends) as well their direct connections (e.g., friends of friends).

The group story parameters further include conditions for contributingto a group story. The interface module 602 enables a user to selectconditions for contributing to a group story. For instance, theinterface module 602 enables a user to select a posting window thatdefines a period of time during which authorized users may contribute toa group story, Accordingly, an authorized user would be permitted tocontribute to the group story during the posting window and would not bepermitted to contribute to the group story during times outside of theposting window. As an example, a user can select a posting windowdictating that authorized users can contribute to a group story from thestart time of an event corresponding to the group story until 4 hoursafter an end time of the event.

The interface module 602 further enables the user to define conditionsbased on geo-graphic location. For example, the interface module 602enables a user to define a geo-fence surrounding the geographic locationassociated with the event, including the size and/or shape of thegeo-fence. The user can define conditions for contributing content basedon the geo-fence, such as requiring that an authorized be within thegeo-fence, have been within the geo-fence during the event window and/orthat content to be added to the group story was captured from within thegeo-fence during the event window.

The group story parameters further identify authorized users and/orconditions for viewing or otherwise accessing the group story. Viewingthe group story includes receiving content included in the group story,such as viewing images, videos, etc., that are included in the groupstory. A user may utilize the interface module 602 to select users thatare authorized to view the group story, A user can choose to allow thesame users that are authorized to contribute to the group story to alsobe authorized to view the group story. However, a user may alsoauthorize a different set of users to view the group story. For example,a user may select to authorize only users within one degree ofconnection (e.g., friends) to contribute to a group story, howeverauthorize users within two degrees of separation to view the group story(e.g, friends of friends).

Similar to selecting users authorized to contribute to a group story,the interface module 602 also enable a user to select specified usersand/or groups of users that are authorized to view the group story. Forexample, the user can select a threshold degree of connection asdescribed above. The interface module 602 further allows a user toselect conditions, such as geographic conditions, time conditions, etc.,that are met for an authorized user to view a group story. For example,a user can set a condition requiring that a user have been locatedwithin the geo-fence surrounding the geographic location associated withthe event to view the group story.

The group story parameters further identify whether content submitted tothe group story should be curated prior to being included in the groupstory. A user (or multiple users designated as curators of a particulargroup story) that initiated the group story may desire to view andapprove content submitted to the group story prior to the content beingsubmitted to the group story. A user may use the user interface providedby the interface module 602 to select whether content submitted to thegroup story should be curated (i.e., approved by the user) prior tobeing included in the group story.

The group story management module 604 initiates a group story based onthe received group story parameters. For example, the group storymanagement module 604 generates a unique identifier for the new groupstory. The group story management module 604 updates the story table 306to include the unique identifier as well as the received group storyparameters.

The group story management module 604 also adds content to the groupstory as it is received and/or approved. For example, the group storymanagement module 604 updates the group story table 306 to include thecontent in the group story. The group story management module 604 alsoupdates the group story table 306 to make changes and/or edits to thegroup story, such as removing content, adding image overlays, addingmessages, etc.

The group story management module 604 provides the group story to usersthat are authorized to view the group story. For example, the groupstory management module 604 provides content included in the group storyto a client device 102 of a user authorized to view the group story. Thecontent is presented on the client device 102 to allow the user to viewthe group story.

The eligibility determination module 606 determines whether a user iseligible to contribute to and/or view a group story. For example, theeligibility determination module 606 gathers data to determine whetherconditions defined by the group story parameters have been met. Exampleof the data gathered by the eligibility determination module 606 arelocation data indicating the current location of the user's clientdevice and/or the location of the user's client device during the eventwindow, a current time, a degree of connection between a requesting userand the user that initiated the group story, etc. The eligibilitydetermination module 606 utilizes the gathered data to determine whetherthe conditions to authorize the user to participate in and/or view thegroup story have been satisfied.

The eligibility determination module 606 also determines whether contentsubmitted for inclusion in a group story is eligible for inclusion inthe group story. The eligibility determination module 606 gathers data,such as the data describes above, as well as data associated withreceived content. Content may be associated with metadata describing ageographic location at which the content was captured, the time at whichthe content was captured, etc. The eligibility determination module 606utilizes the data to determine whether conditions for the content to beeligible have been met. Content determined to be ineligible is notincluded in the group story.

The curation module 608 enables a user that initiated the group story tocurate the content included in the group story. The curation module 608transmits content submitted for inclusion in the group story to a clientdevice 102 of the user that initiated the group story. A user thatinitiates a group story can select to curate the content that isincluded in the group story, meaning that content submitted to the groupstory is sent to the user for authorization prior to being added to thegroup story. Accordingly, the curation module 608 provides contentsubmitted for inclusion in the group story to the client device 102 ofthe user that initiated the group story so that the content can bereviewed by the user.

The curation module 608 adds the content to group story in response toreceiving an authorization message from the client device 102 to add thecontent to the group story. The authorization message indicates that theuser reviewed the submitted content and has approved the content forinclusion in the group story. The curation module 608 providesauthorized. content to the group story management module 604 to beincluded in the group story.

Content that has not been authorized is not added to the group story bythe curation module 608. For example, if the curation module 608receives a message from the client device 102 indicating that the userhas selected to not authorize the content for inclusion, the contentwill not be added to the group story.

The deletion module 610 deletes a group story, or a portion of a groupstory, in response to specified conditions being met. For example, thedeletion module 610 deletes a group story that has remained inactive fora threshold period of time. A group story is inactive when users are notrequesting to contribute, view or otherwise access the group story. Thedeletion module 610 monitors performance of a group story to determine aperiod of time during which the group story has remained inactive (i.e.,a period of time during which users have not contributed, viewed, orotherwise accessed the group story). The deletion module 610 comparesthe period of time that the group story has remained inactive to athreshold period of time to determine whether the group story hasremained inactive for the threshold period of time (i.e., whether theperiod of time that the group story has remained inactive meets orexceeds the threshold period of time).

If the deletion module 610 determines that the group story has remainedinactive for the threshold period of time, the deletion module 610deletes the group story.

In some embodiments, the deletion module 610 deletes the group story byupdating the story table 306 to indicate that the group story has beendeleted, after which the collection management system 204 will no longerallow users to contribute, view or otherwise access the group story. Insome embodiments, the deletion module 610 deletes the group story bydeleting data associated with the group story from the story table 306.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method 700 for initiating a groupstory, according to certain example embodiments. The method 700 may beembodied in computer-readable instructions for execution by one or morecomputer processors such that the operations of the method 700 may beperformed in part or in whole by the collection management system 204;accordingly, the method 700 is described below by way of example withreference thereto. However, it shall be appreciated that at least someof the operations of the method 700 may be deployed on various otherhardware configurations and the method 700 is not intended to be limitedto the collection management system 204.

At operation 702, the collection management system 204 receives a groupstory creation input. A group story creation input is an inputindicating that a user has selected to create a new group story. Thegroup story creation input is received from a client device 102 of auser registered with the messaging server system 108. The interfacemodule 602 provides a user interface on the client device 102 thatenables the user to create a new group story. For example, the userinterface may include a user interface element (e.g., button) that auser can select to create a new group story. Accordingly, the userutilizes the user interface to select to create a new group story,causing the client device 102 to transmit the group story creation inputto the collection management system 204.

At operation 704, the collection management system 204 receives groupstory parameters from the client device 102. Group story parametersinclude parameters defining the group story and performance of the groupstory. Examples of group story parameters include a group story name,specified event and/or geographic location associated with the groupstory, an event window during which the event takes place, parametersand conditions related to which users are authorized to contribute toand/or view content included in the group story (e.g., list of usersauthorized to contribute to and/or view the group story, a thresholddegree of connection, geo-fence size, etc.), whether content needsapproval from an administrator, times when authorized users may postand/or view the group story, when a group story should be deleted. etc.

At operation 706, the group story management module 604 initiates a newgroup story based on the received group story parameters. Initiating thenew group story includes generating a unique identifier for the groupstory and updating the story table 306 to include the new group storyand associated group story parameters. Once the group story isinitiated, content received from users authorized to contribute to thegroup story is added to the story table 306 and associated with thegroup story. Content added to the group story can be accessed and viewedby users authorized to view the group story.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method 800 for determining that auser is authorized to contribute to a group story, according to certainexample embodiments. The method 800 may be embodied in computer-readableinstructions for execution by one or more computer processors such thatthe operations of the method 800 may be performed in part or in whole bythe collection management system 204; accordingly, the method 800 isdescribed below by way of example with reference thereto. However, itshall be appreciated that at least some of the operations of the method800 may be deployed on various other hardware configurations and themethod 800 is not intended to be limited to the collection managementsystem 204.

At operation 802, the collection management system 204 receives amessage creation input from a client device 102 of a requesting user. Amessage creation input is a result of a user engaging utilizing a clientdevice 102. to engage with the messaging server system 108. Examples ofa message creation input include a user executing the messaging clientapplication 104, a user capturing content with a client device 102, etc.

At operation 804, the eligibility determination module 606 determinesthat the requesting user is within a threshold degree of connection witha user that initiated the group story. The eligibility determinationmodule 606 accesses the entity graph 304 to determine whether therequesting user is within the threshold degree of connection with theuser that initiate the group story. The threshold degree of connectionis defined by the user that initiated the group and stored in the storytable 306.

At operation 806, the eligibility determination module 606 determinesthat the client device 102 of the requesting user was located within ageo-fence during a predetermined event window. The eligibilitydetermination module 606 receives location information from the clientdevice 102 that indicates the geographic location of the client device102 based on time. The eligibility determination module 606 uses thelocation information to determine whether a geographic location of theclient device 102 was within the geo-fence during the predeterminedevent window. Date defining the geo-fence and the predetermined eventwindow are defined by the user that initiated the group and stored inthe story table 306.

In some embodiments, the eligibility determination module 606 determinesthat the client device 102 was located within the geo-fence if theclient device 102 was within the geo-fence for any period of time duringthe predetermined event window. Alternatively, the eligibilitydetermination module 606 determines that the client device 102 waslocated within the geo-fence if the client device 102 was within thegeo-fence for at least a threshold period of time.

At operation 808, the interface module 602 causes the client device 102to present a user interface element that enables the requesting user tosubmit content to the group story. In one example, the user interfaceelement is a button that a user selects to submit content to the groupstory.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method 900 for adding content to agroup story, according to certain example embodiments. The method 900may be embodied in computer-readable instructions for execution by oneor more computer processors such that the operations of the method 900may be performed in part or in whole by the collection management system204; accordingly, the method 900 is described below by way of examplewith reference thereto. However, it shall be appreciated that at leastsome of the operations of the method 900 may be deployed on variousother hardware configurations and the method 900 is not intended to belimited to the collection management system 204.

At operation 902, the collection management system 204 receives contentfor inclusion in a group story. The content is received from a clientdevice 202 or a user authorized to contribute to the group story. Thereceived content can include associated metadata, such as a time stampindicating a time at which the content was captured, as well as locationdata identifying the geographic location at which the content wascaptured.

At operation 904, the eligibility determination module 606 determinesthat the content is eligible for inclusion in the group story. The groupstory parameters for the group story dictate conditions that should bemet for content to be eligible for inclusion in the group story. Forexample, the group story parameters can include a time based condition,such as requiring that the content be submitted within a predeterminedtime frame and/or have been captured during a predetermined time frameto be eligible for inclusion in the group story. Accordingly, theeligibility determination module 606 uses the time stamp associated withthe content and/or the time at which the content was received todetermine whether the content is eligible for inclusion in the groupstory.

As another example, the group story parameters can include a locationbased condition, such as requiring that the content was captured withina geo-fence surrounding the specified event associated with the groupparty. The eligibility determination module 606 uses locationinformation associated with the content to determine whether the contentwas captured within the geo-fence.

At operation 906, the curation module 608 transmits the content to aclient device 102 of the user that initiated the group story. A userthat initiates a group story can select to curate the content that isincluded in the group story, meaning that content submitted to the groupstory should be authorized by the user prior to being added to the groupstory. Accordingly, the curation module 608 provides content submittedfor inclusion in the group story to the client device 102 of the userthat initiated the story so that the content can be reviewed by theuser.

At operation 908, the curation module 608 receives an authorizationmessage to add the content to the group story. The authorization messageis received from the client device 102 of the user that initiated thegroup story. The authorization message indicated that the user reviewedthe submitted content and has approved the content for inclusion in thegroup story.

At operation 910, the group story management module 604 adds the contentto the group story. For example, the group story management module 604updates the story table 306 to include the content. Once added to thegroup story, the content can be accessed as part of the group story byusers authorized to view the group story.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a method 1000 for determining that auser is authorized to contribute to a group story, according to certainexample embodiments. The method 1000 may be embodied incomputer-readable instructions for execution by one or more computerprocessors such that the operations of the method 1000 may be performedin part or in whole by the collection management system 204;accordingly, the method 1000 is described below by way of example withreference thereto. However, it shall be appreciated that at least someof the operations of the method 1000 may be deployed on various otherhardware configurations and the method 1000 is not intended to belimited to the collection management system 204.

At operation 1002, the collection management system 204 receives amessage access input from a client device 102 of a user. A messageaccess input is a result of a user engaging utilizing a client device102 to engage with the messaging server system 108. Examples of amessage creation input include a user executing the messaging clientapplication 104, a user selecting to view content with a client device102, etc.

At operation 1004, the authorization module 606 determines that the useris authorized to view the group story. The authorization module 606gathers data, such as location data from the client device 102, acurrent time, the degree of connection of the requesting user to theuser that initiated the group story, etc., and uses the gathered todetermine whether the conditions for viewing the group story have beensatisfied. In response to determining the conditions have beensatisfied, the authorization module 1004 determines that the user isauthorized to view the group story.

At operation 1006, the group story management module 604 providescontent included in the group story to the client device 102. The clientdevice 102 presents the content to the user.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a method 1100 for deleting a groupstory, according to certain example embodiments The method 1100 may beembodied in computer-readable instructions for execution by one or morecomputer processors such that the operations of the method 1100 may beperformed in part or in whole by the collection management system 204;accordingly, the method 1100 is described below by way of example withreference thereto. However, it shall be appreciated that at least someof the operations of the method 1100 may be deployed on various otherhardware configurations and the method 1100 is not intended to belimited to the collection management system 204.

At operation 1102, the deletion module 610 determines that a group storyhas remained inactive for a threshold period of time. A group story isinactive when users are not requesting to contribute, view or otherwiseaccess the group story. The deletion module 610 monitors performance ofa group story to determine a period of time that the group story hasremained inactive (i.e., a period of time during which user have notcontributed, viewed or otherwise accessed the group story), The deletionmodule 610 compares the period of time that the group story has remainedinactive to a threshold period of time to determine whether the groupstory has remained inactive for the threshold period of time (i.e.,whether the period of time that the group story has remained inactivemeets or exceeds the threshold period of time).

At operation 1104, the deletion module 610 deletes the group story. Insome embodiments, the deletion module 610 deletes the group story byupdating the story table 306 to indicate that the group story has beendeleted, after which the collection management system 204 will no longerallow users to contribute, view or otherwise access the group story. Insome embodiments, the deletion module 610 deletes the group story bydeleting data associated with the group story from the story table 306.

FIGS. 12A-12F are screenshots showing example user interfaces forcreating a group story. FIG. 12A shows a user interface 1200 presentinginitiated group stories that the user is authorized to view. As shown, agroup story listing 1202 is presented to indicate the user is authorizedto view the group story titled “My Story.” The user can select the groupstory listing 1202 to view the group story and/or contribute content tothe group story.

The user interface 1200 also includes a create group story button 1204.The user can select the create group story button 1204 to create a newgroup story.

FIG. 12B shows a user interface 1206 enabling a user to select groupstory parameters to create a new group story. The user interface shownin FIG. 12B may be presented as a result of a user selecting the creategroup story button 1204 shown in FIG. 12A. The user interface 1206includes a text field 1208 that allows the user to input a group storyname. The user interface 1206 further includes a geo-fence creationbutton 1210 and buttons to define users authorized to contribute 1212and view 1214 the group story.

FIG. 12C shows a user interface 1216 that enables a user to select usersthat are authorized to contribute to the group story, The user interface1216 may be presented as a result of the user selecting the button 1212shown on FIG. 12B. The user interface presents a listing of users that auser can select from to authorize individual users to contribute to thegroup story. As shown, the user has selected user Akiva 1220 to beauthorized to contribute to the group story. The selection of Akiva 1220is represented by a checkmark presented next to Akiva 1220.Additionally, a listing of selected users 1222 is presented to the user.The user interface 1216 further includes a search field 1218 that a usercan use to enter a user name to search for the specific user. A similaruser interface to the user interface 1216 can be presented to a user toenable the user to select users that are authorized to view the groupstory, for example, as a result of the user selectin button 1214 on FIG.12B.

FIG. 12D shown a user interface 1224 that enables a user to define ageo-fence and select a threshold degree of connection. The userinterface may be presented as a result of a user selecting the button1210 shown in FIG. 12B. The user interface 1224 includes a map interface1228 that shows the geographic dimensions of the geo-fence. The user canuse the map interface to move and/or adjust the size of the geo-fence.The user interface 1224 further enables to adjust the threshold degreeof connection for users authorized to contribute 1230 to the group storyand users authorized to view 1232 the group story. Further, as shown,the user has assigned a group story name 1226 of “Design Team” to thegroup story.

FIG. 12E shows a user interface 1234 that enables a user to create ageo-fence. As shown, the user interface 1234 includes a text field 1236that a user can utilize to enter an address to create a geofence.

FIG. 12F shows the user interface 1200 after the user has initiated anew group story. As shown, the user interface 1200 includes the groupstory listing 1202 corresponding to the group story titled “My Story” aswell as a second group story listing 1238 corresponding to the newlycreated group story titled “Design Team.”

FIGS. 13A & 13B are screenshots showing example interfaces forsubmitting content for inclusion in a group story. FIG. 13A shows animage 1300 captured by a user. FIG. 13B shows a user interface 1302presenting the user with group story listings of group stories the useris authorized to contribute to. The user can select one of the groupstory listings to submit the image 1300 for inclusion in the groupstory.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an example software architecture1406, which may be used in conjunction with various hardwarearchitectures herein described. FIG. 14 is a non-limiting example of asoftware architecture and it will be appreciated that many otherarchitectures may be implemented to facilitate the functionalitydescribed herein. The software architecture 1406 may execute on hardwaresuch as machine 1500 of FIG. 15 that includes, among other things,processors 1504, memory 1514, and I/O components 1518. A representativehardware layer 1452 is illustrated and can represent, for example, themachine 1500 of FIG. 15. The representative hardware layer 1452 includesa processing unit 1454 having associated executable instructions 1404.Executable instructions 1404 represent the executable instructions ofthe software architecture 1406, including implementation of the methods,components and so forth described herein. The hardware layer 1452 alsoincludes memory and/or storage modules memory/storage: 1456, which alsohave executable instructions 1404. The hardware layer 1452 may alsocomprise other hardware 1458.

In the example architecture of FIG. 14, the software architecture 1406may be conceptualized as a stack of layers where each layer providesparticular functionality. For example, the software architecture 1406may include layers such as an operating system 1402, libraries 1420,applications 1416 and a presentation layer 1414. Operationally, theapplications 1416 and/or other components within the layers may invokeApplication Programming Interface (API) calls 1408 through the softwarestack and receive a response as in response to the API calls 1408. Thelayers illustrated are representative in nature and not all softwarearchitectures have all layers. For example, some mobile or specialpurpose operating systems may not provide a frameworks/middleware 1418,while others may provide such a layer. Other software architectures mayinclude additional or different layers.

The operating system 1402 may manage hardware resources and providecommon services. The operating system 1402 may include, for example, akernel 1422, services 1424 and drivers 1426. The kernel 1422 may act asan abstraction layer between the hardware and the other software layers.For example, the kernel 1422 may be responsible for memory management,processor management (e.g., scheduling), component management,networking, security settings, and so on. The services 1424 may provideother common services for the other software layers. The drivers 1426are responsible for controlling or interfacing with the underlyinghardware. For instance, the drivers 1426 include display drivers, cameradrivers, Bluetooth® drivers, flash memory drivers, serial communicationdrivers (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) drivers), drivers, audiodrivers, power management drivers, and so forth depending on thehardware configuration.

The libraries 1420 provide a common infrastructure that is used by theapplications 1416 and/or other components and/or layers. The libraries1420 provide functionality that allows other software components toperform tasks in an easier fashion than to interface directly with theunderlying operating system 1402 functionality (e.g., kernel 1422,services 1424 and/or drivers 1426). The libraries 1420 may includesystem libraries 1444 (e.g., C standard library) that may providefunctions such as memory allocation functions, string manipulationfunctions, mathematical functions, and the like. In addition, thelibraries 1420 may include API libraries 1446 such as media libraries(e.g., libraries to support presentation and manipulation of variousmedia format such as MPREG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG), graphicslibraries (e.g., an OpenGL framework that may be used to render 2D and3D in a graphic content on a display), database libraries (e.g., SQLitethat may provide various relational database functions), web libraries(e.g., WebKit that may provide web browsing functionality), and thelike. The libraries 1420 may also include a wide variety of otherlibraries 1448 to provide many other APIs to the applications 1416 andother software components/modules.

The frameworks/middleware 1418 (also sometimes referred to asmiddleware) provide a higher-level common infrastructure that may beused by the applications 1416 and/or other software components/modules.For example, the frameworks/middleware 1418 may provide various graphicuser interface (GUI) functions, high-level resource management,high-level location services, and so forth. The frameworks/middleware1418 may provide a broad spectrum of other APIs that may be utilized bythe applications 1416 and/or other software components/modules, some ofwhich may be specific to a particular operating system 1402 or platform.

The applications 1416 include built-in applications 1438 and/orthird-party applications 1440. Examples of representative built-inapplications 1438 may include, but are not limited to, a contactsapplication, a browser application, a book reader application, alocation application, a media application, a messaging application,and/or a game application. Third-party applications 1440 may include anapplication developed using the ANDROID™ or IOS™ software developmentkit (SDK) by an entity other than the vendor of the particular platform,and may be mobile software running on a mobile operating system such asIDS™, ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, or other mobile operating systems. Thethird-party applications 1440 may invoke the API calls 1408 provided bythe mobile operating system (such as operating system 1402) tofacilitate functionality described herein.

The applications 1416 may use built in operating system functions (e,g,,kernel 1422, services 1424 and/or drivers 1426), libraries 1420, andframeworks/middleware 1418 to create user interfaces to interact withusers of the system. Alternatively, or additionally, in some systemsinteractions with a user may occur through a presentation layer, such aspresentation layer 1414. In these systems, the application/component“logic” can be separated from the aspects of the application/componentthat interact with a user.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine 1500,according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from amachine-readable medium (e.g., a machine-readable storage medium) andperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.Specifically, FIG. 15 shows a diagrammatic representation of the machine1500 in the example form of a computer system, within which instructions1510 (e.g., software, a program, an application, an apples, an app, orother executable code) for causing the machine 1500 to perform any oneor more of the methodologies discussed herein may be executed. As such,the instructions 1510 may be used to implement modules or componentsdescribed herein. The instructions 1510 transform the general,non-programmed machine 1500 into a particular machine 1500 programmed tocarry out the described and illustrated functions in the mannerdescribed. In alternative embodiments, the machine 1500 operates as astandalone device or may be coupled (e.g., networked) to other machines.In a networked deployment, the machine 1500 may operate in the capacityof a server machine or a client machine in a server-client networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. The machine 1500 may comprise, but not be limitedto, a server computer, a client computer, a personal computer (PC), atablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook, a set-top box (STB), apersonal digital assistant (PDA), an entertainment media system, acellular telephone, a smart phone, a mobile device, a wearable device(e.g., a smart watch), a smart home device (e.g., a smart appliance),other smart devices, a web appliance, a network router, a networkswitch, a network bridge, or any machine capable of executing theinstructions 1510, sequentially or otherwise, that specify actions to betaken by machine 1500. Further, while only a single machine 1500 isillustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include acollection of machines that individually or jointly execute theinstructions 1510 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

The machine 1500 may include processors 1504, memory memory/storage1506, and I/O components 1518, which may be configured to communicatewith each other such as via a bus 1502. The memory/storage 1506 mayinclude a memory 1514, such as a main memory, or other memory storage,and a storage unit 1516, both accessible to the processors 1504 such asvia the bus 150. The storage unit 1516 and memory 1514 store theinstructions 1510 embodying any one or more of the methodologies orfunctions described herein. The instructions 1510 may also reside,completely or partially, within the memory 1514, within the storage unit1516, within at least one of the processors 1504 (e.g., within theprocessor's cache memory), or any suitable combination thereof, duringexecution thereof by the machine 1500. Accordingly, the memory 1514, thestorage unit 1516, and the memory of processors 1504 are examples ofmachine-readable media.

The I/O components 1518 may include a wide variety of components toreceive input, provide output, produce output, transmit information,exchange information, capture measurements, and so on. The specific I/Ocomponents 1518 that are included in a particular machine 1500 willdepend on the type of machine. For example, portable machines such asmobile phones will likely include a touch input device or other suchinput mechanisms, while a headless server machine will likely notinclude such a touch input device. It will be appreciated that the I/Ocomponents 1518 may include many other components that are not shown inFIG. 15. The I/O components 1518 are grouped according to functionalitymerely for simplifying the following discussion and the grouping is inno way limiting. In various example embodiments, the I/O components 1518may include output components 1526 and input components 1528. The outputcomponents 1526 may include visual components (e.g., a display such as aplasma display panel (PDP), a light emitting diode (LED) display, aliquid crystal display (LCD), a projector, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)),acoustic components (e.g., speakers), haptic components (e.g., avibratory motor, resistance mechanisms), other signal generators, and soforth. The input components 1528 may include alphanumeric inputcomponents (e.g., a keyboard, a touch screen configured to receivealphanumeric input, a photo-optical keyboard, or other alphanumericinput components), point based input components (e.g., a mouse, atouchpad, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, or other pointinginstrument), tactile input components (e.g., a physical button, a touchscreen that provides location and/or force of touches or touch gestures,or other tactile input components), audio input components (e.g., amicrophone), and the like.

In further example embodiments, the I/O components 1518 may includebiometric components 1530, motion components 1534, environmentalenvironment components 1536, or position components 1538 among a widearray of other components. For example, the biometric components 1530may include components to detect expressions (e.g., hand expressions,facial expressions, vocal expressions, body gestures, or eye tracking),measure biosignals (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature,perspiration, or brain waves), identify a person (e.g., voiceidentification, retinal identification, facial identification,fingerprint identification, or electroencephalogram basedidentification), and the like. The motion components 1534 may includeacceleration sensor components (e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensorcomponents, rotation sensor components (e.g., gyroscope), and so forth.The environment components 1536 may include, for example, illuminationsensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components(e.g., one or more thermometer that detect ambient temperature),humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g.,barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more microphonesthat detect background noise), proximity sensor components (e.g.,infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensors (e.g., gasdetection sensors to detection concentrations of hazardous gases forsafety or to measure pollutants in the atmosphere), or other componentsthat may provide indications, measurements, or signals corresponding toa surrounding physical environment. The position components 1538 mayinclude location sensor components (e.g., a Global Position system (GPS)receiver component), altitude sensor components (e.g., altimeters orbarometers that detect air pressure from which altitude may be derived),orientation sensor components (e.g., magnetometers), and the like.

Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of technologies.The I/O components 1518 may include communication components 1540operable to couple the machine 1500 to a network 1532 or devices 1520via coupling 1522 and coupling 1524 respectively. For example, thecommunication components 1540 may include a network interface componentor other suitable device to interface with the network 1532. In furtherexamples, communication components 1540 may include wired communicationcomponents, wireless communication components, cellular communicationcomponents, Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth®components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), WI-Fi® components, and othercommunication components to provide communication via other modalities.The devices 1520 may be another machine or any of a wide variety ofperipheral devices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via a UniversalSerial Bus (USB)).

Moreover, the communication components 1540 may detect identifiers orinclude components operable to detect identifiers. For example, thecommunication components 1540 may include Radio Frequency Identification(RFD) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detection components, opticalreader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detect one-dimensional barcodes such as Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code, multi-dimensionalbar codes such as Quick Response (QR) code, Aztec code, Data Matrix,Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2D bar code, and otheroptical codes), or acoustic detection components (e.g., microphones toidentify tagged audio signals). In addition, a variety of informationmay be derived via the communication components 1540, such as, locationvia Internet Protocol (IP) geo-location, location via Wi-Fi® signaltriangulation, location via detecting a NFC beacon signal that mayindicate a particular location, and so forth.

Glossary

“CARRIER SIGNAL” in this context refers to any intangible medium that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution bythe machine, and includes digital or analog communications signals orother intangible medium to facilitate communication of suchinstructions. Instructions may be transmitted or received over thenetwork using a transmission medium via a network interface device andusing any one of a number of well-known transfer protocols.

“CLIENT DEVICE” in this context refers to any machine that interfaces toa communications network to obtain resources from one or more serversystems or other client devices. A client device may be, but is notlimited to, a mobile phone, desktop computer, laptop, portable digitalassistants (PDAs), smart phones, tablets, ultra books, netbooks,laptops, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmableconsumer electronics, game consoles, set-top boxes, or any othercommunication device that a user may use to access a network.

“COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK” in this context refers to one or more portionsof a network that may be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, avirtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wirelessLAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), ametropolitan area network (MAN), the Internet, a portion of theInternet, a portion of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), aplain old telephone service (POTS) network, a cellular telephonenetwork, a wireless network, a Wi-Fi® network, another type of network,or a combination of two or more such networks. For example, a network ora portion of a network may include a wireless or cellular network andthe coupling may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) connection, aGlobal System for Mobile communications (GSM) connection, or other typeof cellular or wireless coupling. In this example, the coupling mayimplement any of a variety of types of data transfer technology, such asSingle Carrier Radio Transmission Technology (1xRTT), Evolution-DataOptimized (EVDO) technology, General Packet Radio Service (CPRS)technology, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology,third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) including 3G, fourthgeneration wireless (4G) networks, Universal Mobile TelecommunicationsSystem (UMTS), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), WorldwideInteroperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE)standard, others defined by various standard setting organizations,other long range protocols, or other data transfer technology.

“EMPHEMERAL MESSAGE” in this context refers to a message that isaccessible for a time-limited duration. An ephemeral message may be atext, an image, a video and the like. The access time for the ephemeralmessage may be set by the message sender. Alternatively, the access timemay be a default setting or a setting specified by the recipient.Regardless of the setting technique, the message is transitory.

“MACHINE-READABLE MEDIUM” in this context refers to a component, deviceor other tangible media able to store instructions and data temporarilyor permanently and may include, but is not be limited to, random-accessmemory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), buffer memory, flash memory,optical media, magnetic media, cache memory, other types of storageErasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and/or any suitablecombination thereof. The term “machine-readable medium” should be takento include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized ordistributed database, or associated caches and servers) able to storeinstructions. The term “machine-readable medium” shall also be taken toinclude any medium, or combination of multiple media, that is capable ofstoring instructions (e.g., code) for execution by a machine, such thatthe instructions, when executed by one or more processors of themachine, cause the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies described herein. Accordingly, a “machine-readable medium”refers to a single storage apparatus or device, as well as “cloud-based”storage systems or storage networks that include multiple storageapparatus or devices. The term “machine-readable medium” excludessignals per se.

“COMPONENT” in this context refers to a device, physical entity or logichaving boundaries defined by function or subroutine calls, branchpoints, application program interfaces (APIs), or other technologiesthat provide for the partitioning or modularization of particularprocessing or control functions. Components may be combined via theirinterfaces with other components to carry out a machine process. Acomponent may be a packaged functional hardware unit designed for usewith other components and a part of a program that usually performs aparticular function of related functions. Components may constituteeither software components (e.g., code embodied on a machine-readablemedium) or hardware components. A “hardware component” is a tangibleunit capable of performing certain operations and may be configured orarranged in a certain physical manner. In various example embodiments,one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone computer system, aclient computer system, or a server computer system) or one or morehardware components of a computer system (e.g., a processor or a groupof processors) may be configured by software (e.g., an application orapplication portion) as a hardware component that operates to performcertain operations as described herein. A hardware component may also beimplemented mechanically, electronically, or any suitable combinationthereof. For example, a hardware component may include dedicatedcircuitry or logic that is permanently configured to perform certainoperations. A hardware component may be a special-purpose processor,such as a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or an ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). A hardware component may alsoinclude programmable logic or circuitry that is temporarily configuredby software to perform certain operations. For example, a hardwarecomponent may include software executed by a general-purpose processoror other programmable processor. Once configured by such software,hardware components become specific machines (or specific components ofa machine) uniquely tailored to perform the configured functions and areno longer general-purpose processors. It will be appreciated that thedecision to implement a hardware component mechanically, in dedicatedand permanently configured circuitry, or in temporarily configuredcircuitry (e.g., configured by software) may be driven by cost and timeconsiderations. Accordingly, the phrase “hardware component”(or“hardware-implemented component”) should be understood to encompass atangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed,permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily configured(e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner or to perform certainoperations described herein. Considering embodiments in which hardwarecomponents are temporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of thehardware components need not be configured or instantiated at any oneinstance in time. For example, where a hardware component comprises ageneral-purpose processor configured by software to become aspecial-purpose processor, the general-purpose processor may beconfigured as respectively different special-purpose processors (e.g.,comprising different hardware components) at different times. Softwareaccordingly configures a particular processor or processors, forexample, to constitute a particular hardware component at one instanceof time and to constitute a different hardware component at a differentinstance of time. Hardware components can provide information to, andreceive information from, other hardware components. Accordingly, thedescribed hardware components may be regarded as being communicativelycoupled. Where multiple hardware components exist contemporaneously,communications may be achieved through signal transmission (e.g., overappropriate circuits and buses) between or among two or more of thehardware components. In embodiments in which multiple hardwarecomponents are configured or instantiated at different times,communications between such hardware components may be achieved, forexample, through the storage and retrieval of information in memorystructures to which the multiple hardware components have access. Forexample, one hardware component may perform an operation and store theoutput of that operation in a memory device to which it iscommunicatively coupled. A further hardware component may then, at alater time, access the memory device to retrieve and process the storedoutput. Hardware components may also initiate communications with inputor output devices, and can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection ofinformation). The various operations of example methods described hereinmay be performed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implementedcomponents that operate to perform one or more operations or functionsdescribed herein. As used herein, “processor-implemented component”refers to a hardware component implemented using one or more processors.Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented, with a particular processor or processors beingan example of hardware. For example, at least some of the operations ofa method may be performed by one or more processors orprocessor-implemented components. Moreover, the one or more processorsmay also operate to support performance of the relevant operations in a“cloud computing” environment or as a “software as a service” (SaaS).For example, at least some of the operations may be performed by a groupof computers (as examples of machines including processors), with theseoperations being accessible via a network (e.g., the Internet) and viaone or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., an Application ProgramInterface (API)). The performance of certain of the operations may bedistributed among the processors, not only residing within a singlemachine, but deployed across a number of machines. In some exampleembodiments, the processors or processor-implemented components may belocated in a single geographic location (e.g., within a homeenvironment, an office environment, or a server farm). In other exampleembodiments, the processors or processor-implemented components may bedistributed across a number of geographic locations.

“PROCESSOR” in this context refers to any circuit or virtual circuit (aphysical circuit emulated by logic executing on an actual processor)that manipulates data values according to control signals (e.g.,“commands”, “op codes”, “machine code”, etc.) and which producescorresponding output signals that are applied to operate a machine. Aprocessor may, for example, be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), aReduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processor, a ComplexInstruction Set Computing (CISC) processor, a Graphics Processing Unit(GPU), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit (ASIC), a Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuit (RTIC)or any combination thereof. A processor may further be a multi-coreprocessor having two or more independent processors (sometimes referredto as “cores”) that may execute instructions contemporaneously,

“TIMESTAMP” in this context refers to a sequence of characters orencoded information identifying when a certain event occurred, forexample giving date and time of day, sometimes accurate to a smallfraction of a second.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by one or moreprocessors, input from a first client device that initiates a groupstory in relation to an event; associating a posting window with thegroup story that defines a time window during which content is allowedto be associated with the group story; and enabling a second clientdevice to post content to the group story based on the posting windowassociated with the group story.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein theevent is associated with a start time and an end time and furthercomprising: after the group story has been initiated, determining thatthe second client device was previously located within a geo-fenceassociated with a geographic location of the event between the starttime and the end time to enable the second client device to postcontent.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the input designates one ormore parameters of the group story and the one or more parameterscomprise a geo-fence.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving location data from the second client device that indicates ageographic location of the second client device; and determining thatthe received location data of the second client device satisfies one ormore parameters of the group story.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: determining, based on an entity graph representingconnections between a plurality of users registered with a messagingserver system, that a first user, associated with the first clientdevice, is within a threshold degree of connection with a second userassociated with the second client device; and causing the first clientdevice to present a user interface element that enables the second userto submit given content to the group story.
 6. The method of claim 1,further comprising: obtaining metadata associated with content receivedfrom the second client device, the metadata indicating a time at whichthe content was captured and a geographic location at which the contentwas captured; determining, based on the metadata, that the content wascaptured from within a geo-fence between start and end times of theevent; transmitting, to the first client device, the content receivedfrom the second client device; receiving, from the first client device,an authorization message to add the content to the group story; and inresponse to receiving the authorization message, adding the content tothe group story.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receivingan access request from a third client device associated with a thirduser; and determining that the third user is authorized to view thegroup story.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining that thethird user is authorized to view the group story comprises: determining,based on an entity graph, that the third user is within a thresholddegree of connection with a first user associated with the first clientdevice.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining thatthe group story has remained inactive for a threshold period of time.10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: deleting the group storyin response to determining that the group story has remained inactivefor the threshold period of time.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein theposting window begins at a start time of the event and ends at athreshold period of time following the end time of the event.
 12. Asystem comprising: one or more computer processors; and one or morecomputer-readable mediums storing instructions that, when executed bythe one or more computer processors, cause the processors to performoperations comprising: receiving input from a first client device thatinitiates a group story in relation to an event; associating a postingwindow with the group story that defines a time window during whichcontent is allowed to be associated with the group story; and enabling asecond client device to post content to the group story based on theposting window associated with the group story.
 13. The system of claim12, wherein the event associated with a start time and an end timefurther comprising operations for after the group story has beeninitiated, determining that the second client device was previouslylocated within a geo-fence associated with a geographic location of theevent between the start time and the end time.
 14. The system of claim12, wherein the input designates one or more parameters of the groupstory and the one or more parameters comprise a geo-fence.
 15. Thesystem of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise: receivinglocation data from the second client device that indicates a geographiclocation of the second client device; and determining that the receivedlocation data of the second client device satisfies one or moreparameters of the group story to enable the second client device to postcontent.
 16. The system of claim 12, wherein the operations furthercomprise: determining, based on an entity graph representing connectionsbetween a plurality of users registered with a messaging server system,that a first user, associated with the first client device, is within athreshold degree of connection with a second user associated with thesecond client device; and causing the first client device to present auser interface element that enables the second user to submit givencontent to the group story.
 17. The system of claim 12, wherein theoperations further comprise: obtaining metadata associated with contentreceived from the second client device, the metadata indicating a timeat which the content was captured and a geographic location at which thecontent was captured; determining, based on the metadata, that thecontent was captured from within a geo-fence between start and end timesof the event; transmitting, to the first client device, the contentreceived from the second client device; receiving, from the first clientdevice, an authorization message to add the content to the group story;and in response to receiving the authorization message, adding thecontent to the group story.
 18. The system of claim 12, wherein theoperations further comprise: receiving an access request from a thirdclient device associated with a third user; and determining that thethird user is authorized to view the group story.
 19. The system ofclaim 12, wherein the operations further comprise deleting the groupstory after a threshold period of time of inactivity related to thegroup story.
 20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storinginstructions that, when executed by one or more computer processors of amessaging server system, cause the messaging server system to performoperations comprising: receiving input from a first client device thatinitiates a group story in relation to an event; associating a postingwindow with the group story that defines a time window during whichcontent is allowed to be associated with the group story; and enabling asecond client device to post content to the group story based on theposting window associated with the group story.